Flat clothing for carding machines



Sept. 15, 1964 F. REITERER 3,148,415

FLAT CLOTHING FOR CARDING MACHINES Filed Sept. 27, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. 2A 2;

III I 4f Za INVENTOR.

FERDINAND REITERER A TTORNEYS Sept. 15, 1964 F. REITERER 3,148,415

FLAT CLOTHING FOR CARDING MACHINES Filed Sept. 27, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. FERDINAND REITERER his ATTORNEYS United States Patent 0 FLAT CLOTHKNG FOR QARDHNG MACEEJFES Ferdinand Reiterer, Rueil-Mahnaison, France, assignor,

by direct and mesne assignments, to Whitin Machine Works, Whitinsville, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Filed Sept. 27, 1961, Ser. No. 141,130 Claims priority, application France Oct. 27, 1960 14 Claims. (Cl. 19-113) This invention relates to clothing for the carding flats in a carding machine and, more particularly, to a new and improved carding flat clothing providing more eflicient operation of the carding machine.

In most conventional carding machines a revolving main drum or swift provided with a toothed clothing on its outer surface carries a fleece of fibers on the points of the clothing teeth past a series of working members, such as carding flats, having a clothing which moves in the opposite direction as the swift clothing or in the same direction at a different rate of speed. As the clothing of the working members engages the fibers carried by the swift, it removes impurities and foreign matter from the fibers.

Heretofore, the clothing of the carding fiats has been of the same general type as that of the main drum, i.e. a plurality of pins or wires mounted in a base, each wire being spaced in both the lateral and longitudinal directions from the adjacent wire. With this arrangement, however, a relatively large proportion of useful fibers is removed from the fleece by the carding flats and this proportion increases as the rate of operation of the carding machine is increased.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved clothing for carding flats which overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved carding flat clothing which effectively removes foreign matter and other impurities from the fibers while carrying away a relatively small proportion of useful fibers.

A further object of the invention is to provide a carding flat clothing of the above character which is capable of retaining dust and impurities as they are removed from the fibers.

These and other objects of the invention are attained by forming the carding flat clothing with a plurality of serrated ridges extending transversely to the direction of motion of the clothing and separated by relatively deep grooves. Preferably, the grooves are partially filled with a substance on which dust and impurities will be retained by mechanical coupling, physical adhesion, or electrostatic attraction. In one embodiment, the promontories of adjacent ridges, which may each be formed by a plurality of aligned elements or by a single appropriately profiled member, are laterally displaced while, in another form, they are aligned in the direction of motion of the clothmg.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from a reading of the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary view, partly in section, illustrating a portion of a chain of carding flats having a typical clothing arranged according to the invention;

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FIG. 2A is a plan view of one form of carding flat clothing according to the invention;

FIG, 2B is a side View illustrating one element of the clothing shown in FIG. 2A;

PEG. 2C is a side view showing another element of the clothing illustrated in FIG. 2A;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional View of a completed clothin g strip of the type shown in FIG. 2A;

FIG. 4 is a view in cross-section illustrating a carding fiat having another form of clothing arranged according to the invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates in cross-section still another type of clothing arranged according to the invention; and

FIG. 6 is a side elevation view on a reduced scale of a typical carding machine having carding flats provided with a clothing according to the invention.

As best seen in FIG. 6, a typical revolving-flat carding machine comprises a main drum or swift 1 provided with a toothed clothing in mounted on its outer surface along with an endless chain 13 passing over a series of sprocket rollers 29 and supporting an articulated series of carding flats 2. The carding flats 2 are driven by the chain 13 adjacent to the clothing 1:: in the direction opposite to that of the swift clothing, as shown by the arrows in the drawing.

In accordance with the present invention, as illustrated in the magnified view of FIG. 1, each carding flat 2 has a base portion 2a and a series of spaced parallel ridges 2b projecting from the base portion and extending transversely to the direction of motion of the card, the ridges being serrated, as shown in FIG. 2A, to provide parallel rows of teeth. Preferably, the teeth of each ridge are slanted in the direction of motion of the flat chain and the surfaces of the teeth which are adjacent to the clothing 1a are flat and parallel thereto, as indicated in the drawing, While the surfaces of the ridge between the teeth are slanted upwardly from the rear of the teeth in the manner shown in FIG. 3. If desired, the teeth in the several ridges of each card may be aligned as indicated in FIG. 1 or, on the other hand, they may be in staggered relation as described with reference to FIGS. 2A and 3.

Between each pair of adjacent ridges 2b there is a relatively deep groove and, in order to hold dust and impurities removed from the fibers on the carding flat clothing, these grooves are partly filled with a dust-retaining filling 7. For this purpose, the material forming the filling 7 may have a rough or wrinkled surface, or it may be a material, such as hard rubber, ebonite, and plastics such as nylon, capable of retaining an electric charge so as to hold dust by an electrostatic effect, or it may be an oily substance as, for example, a porous metal impregnated with oil so that the dust particles will be held on the surface by the oil. Preferably, the exposed surface of the dust-retaining filler is concave, as shown in the drawings, to provide a greater dust-retaining surface area. The grooves 6, even when partially filled with a dust-retaining material, should be deeper than the portions of the serrated ridges 2b located between the teeth or promontories.

The carding machine also includes a rotating brush 14, shown in FIG. 6, which cleans the dust and impurities from the clothing of the carding flats 2 as they pass around the end of the chain. Moreover, adjacent to this brush is a hood 15 connected to a suction duct 16 which tion.

G draws the dust and impurities away from the brush 14 and the carding flat clothing. If desired, a carding machine according to the invention may have two sets of flat chains the first of which has a conventional type of clothing while the second is clothed in the manner described above.

In operation, the fibers carried by the swift clothing in, in the direction of the arrow, are engaged by the teeth of the fiat clothing 2a which moves in the opposite direc- Because of the above-described arrangement of the flat clothing with serrated ridges separated by grooves, the fibers are merely pushed back on the swift clothing by the ridges 212 without becoming hooked onto the flat clothing. At the same time, however, the larger impuriies in the fiber fleece become lodged in the grooves between the ridges 212 while the fine particles of dust and dirt adhere to the dust-retaining filling 7 in the grooves. In this way, the carding and cleaning operation may be carried out without removing any substantial quantity of useful fibers. When the carding flats pass the rotary brush 14, shown in FIG. 6, the dust and impurities are removed from the clothing and carried away by the suction duct 16.

As previously mentioned, the teeth of adjacent ridges in the flat clothing may be in staggered relation rather than being aligned in the manner shown in FIG. 1. One form of clothing having a staggered tooth arrangement is illustrated in FIG. 2A wherein a plurality of two different types of plate members 3, 3 are mounted in side-byside relation, with the alternate members identical. The tooth configuration of the plate members indicated by the numeral 3, which is illustrated in FIG. 2B, includes four projections, all of which are slanted in the direction of motion of the clothing. Two of these projections, both identified by the number 4 and located in the second and fourth positions from the leading end of the member, have end surfaces 4a which are substantially parallel to the direction of motion, while the other projections 5 have end surfaces 5a which slant inwardly from the plane of the surfaces 4a in directions perpendicular to the extent of the projections. Between each pair of projections there is a relatively deep slot or recess 6 which, in conjunction with similarly located slots or recesses 6 in the members 3', provides a groove extending across the face of the clothing.

As illustrated in FIG. 2C, the plate members 3 have two projections 4 similar to the projections 4 but located in the first and third positions from the leading end of the plate, while two projections 5 like the projections 5 of the plate 3 are in the second and fourth positions. When the plate members are mounted together in alternate relation in the manner shown in FIGS. 2A and 3, the projections 4, 5, 4' and 5' produce four parallel serrated ridges having teeth formed by the projections 4 and 4' which extend beyond the ends of the projections 5 and 5 and are located in staggered relation in the ridges.

In the clothing arrangement illustrated in FIG. 4, a clothing similar to that of FIG. 3 is provided with inwardly flaring end portions 8 and is afiixed to a support member 9 formed with similarly shaped end portions 9a by a pair of channel members 10 having flanges which embrace the end portions and hold them together. If viewed in plan, therefore, the clothing of FIG. 4 would appear identical toFIG. 2A except that the grooves between ridges 2b would contain dust retaining material and the channel members 10 would be seen across the top and bottom of the View.

FIG. 5 illustrates another embodiment of the invention wherein four members 4b and 5b, each forming a serrated ridge extending uninterrupted across the base of the clothing in the. direction perpendicular to the plane of FIG. 5, are embedded in a block 11 of insulating dielectric material so that the same material forms both the base member and a dust-retaining filling 7a between the ridges. This embodiment, if viewed in plan, will also appear the same as FIG. 2A with dust retaining material in the grooves between the ridges 2b but the insulated block 11 will be visible at the top and bottom of the view instead of the projecting ends of the members 3 and 3 which are shown in FIG. 2A.

Although the invention has been described herein with reference to specific embodiments, many modifications and variations therein will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, all such variations and modifications are included Within the intended scope of the invention as defined by the following claims.

I claim:

1. Flat clothing for a carding flat comprising a base portion having a plurality of serrated ridges provided with top surfaces and projecting outwardly from one side and extending in a direction transverse to the intended direction of motion of the clothing the top surface of each serrated ridge comprising a continuous series of surface portions consisting of projecting teeth and lower surface portions interposed between teeth, and a plurality of grooves extending between the ridges and having a depth which extends below the lower surface portions of the top surfaces of the serrated ridges.

2. Flat clothing for carding flat comprising a base portion having a plurality of serrated ridges provided with top surfaces and projecting outwardly from one side and extending in a direction transverse to the intended direction of motion of the clothing and a plurality of grooves extending between the ridges and having a depth which extends below the lowest portions of the top surfaces of the serrated ridges including a dust-retaining filling located in the plurality of grooves.

3. Flat clothing according to claim 2 wherein the dustretaining filling has a rough surface.

4. Flat clothing according to claim 2 wherein the dustretaining filling comprises a substance capable of retaining an electric charge.

5. Flat clothing according to claim 2 wherein the dustretaining filling comprises an oily substance.

6. Flat clothing according to claim 1 wherein each of the serrated ridges includes a plurality of teeth which are aligned with the corresponding teeth of other ridges in the direction of motion of the clothing.

7. Flat clothing according .to claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of ridges includes a plurality of teeth which are located in laterally displaced relation with respect to the teeth of the adjacent ridges.

8. Flat clothing according to claim 1 wherein each of the serrated ridges projects away from the base portion at an angle inclined toward the intended direction of motion of the clothing.

9. Flat clothing according to claim 1 wherein each of the serrated ridges includes a plurality of teeth having end surfaces extending parallel to the direction of motion of the clothing 10. Flat clothing according to claim 9 wherein the lower surface portions of the top surfaces of the ridges are inclined inwardly from the plane of the end sur faces of the teeth.

11. Flat clothing according to claim 1 wherein the base portion and ridges comprise a plurality of plate members held in side by said relation each plate member having a series of aligned projections and intervening recesses.

12. Flat clothing according to claim 11 wherein the ends of the projections in the series on each plate member extend alternately parallel to and at an angle to the intended direction of motion of the clothing.

13. Flat clothing according to claim 1 wherein the base portion is formed at opposite sides with surfaces flaring outwardly in the direction of the ridge projections and including a clothing support member having surfaces flaring outwardly away from the clothing and bracket means engaging the outwardly flaring surfaces to hold the clothing and the support member together.

14. Flat clothing for carding flat comprising a base portion having a plurality of serrated ridges provided with top surfaces and projecting outwardly from one side and extending in a direction transverse to the intended direction of motion of the clothing and a plu- 5 rality of grooves extending between the ridges and having a depth which extends below the lowest portions of the top surfaces of the serrated ridges wherein each serrated ridge comprises a unitary member having one profiled edge and an opposite edge embedded in the base portion. 10

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Mills et al Apr. 11,

Greer et a1. July 13,

Platt Oct. 26,

FOREIGN PATENTS France Jan. 25,

Great Britain Feb. 6, 

1. FLAT CLOTHING FOR A CARDING FLAT COMPRISING A BASE PORTION HAVING A PLURALITY OF SERRATED RIDGES PROVIDED WITH TOP SURFACES AND PROJECTING OUTWARDLY FROM ONE SIDE AND EXTENDING IN A DIRECTION TRANSVERSE TO THE INTENDED DIRECTION OF MOTION OF THE CLOTHING THE TOP SURFACE OF EACH SERRATED RIDGE COMPRISING A CONTINUOUS SERIES OF SURFACE PORTIONS CONSISTING OF PROJECTING TEETH AND LOWER SURFACE PORTIONS INTERPOSED BETWEEN TEETH, AND A PLURALITY OF GROOVES EXTENDING BETWEEN THE RIDGES AND HAVING A DEPTH WHICH EXTENDS BELOW THE LOWER SURFACE PORTIONS OF THE TOP SURFACES OF THE SERRATED RIDGES. 